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| A carload - off to The Real Real - June 2022 |
Let's sell the big house...
I reached out to a friend and neighbor who is a realtor, and we had a serious conversation about what it would take.
May 2022:
On the second Saturday of the month I got a phone call from one of my husband's cycling buddies that he'd had a wreck - it was bad - and he was on his way to the ER.
Fast forward through the rest of 2022, which included surgery to repair his broken collarbone, rest, rehabilitation
and a wedding.
Spoiler alert: we're still in the big house, and that's okay, really...but there's a lot less stuff.
We haven't abandoned the idea of selling and moving - just the opposite - we talk about it, and what's next - all the time. When it does happen, whatever we move into is going to be a lot smaller...so we can't take it all with us.
As you read this,
- Maybe you are like us - still in the big house, with all the things that accumulate over an adult life (especially if you raised a family in a house with multiple rooms, closets and attic space).
- Maybe you have gone through the painful process of letting go and getting rid of those things that no longer serve you.
- Maybe you are just starting out, and haven't succumbed to all that accumulating. A piece of advice, you do not need as many things as your parents or grandparents (nor are you obligated to keep their things if you don't want them).
Once something finds its way into your life and home, it is likely to stay there...for lots of reasons.
There are the
essential things - pots, pans, utensils, dishes, furniture, appliances - that most of us find necessary for human existence. These were some of the
first things we upgraded in the early months of the pandemic because we were going to be in our house all the time.
Essential thing I did not upgrade - clothes - until it was almost time for the wedding and I did not want to meet my daughter in law's family in the ratty tee shirts and yoga pants I'd been wearing for two and a half years.
There are the extra things - I count jewelry among those - and it's different for everyone. These are the things that really do make life better, they bring you joy when you see them, or hold them, or use them in some way. They are not, by definition, expensive but they do take up space.
Then, there are the things you know you should get rid of...but that's a chore you just don't want to tackle today.
We have way too much in our house that falls into that last category, and the problem is compounded by not knowing that to do with it.
- Clothes (unlike my pandemic wardrobe) that still have life in them, but having been hanging in the closet unworn for multiple seasons.
- Gifts given with the best intentions - and for which you or your child wrote a thank you note - that went promptly into a cabinet and haven't seen the light of day in years.
- Books from college, graduate school, and the book club that dissolved ten years ago.
What I am supposed to do with all this stuff!?
Well, it turns out there's an entire industry that has evolved because people figured out that putting things into the garbage and landfills is a really bad idea; and to those people - the ones who do it for free, like buy nothing groups, and those who see it as a profitable opportunity - I say thank you.
My absolute favorite place to take donations is
Austin Creative Reuse. They take so many different kinds of things and give them new life. I know this because so many of my maker friends shop there first, before going to traditional retail outlets. The staff is amazing, too - I've taken carloads to them (I made appointments and they met me at their loading dock) and as they helped unpack my CRV filled to the brim with things that were a burden to me, they saw potential; their enthusiasm is truly heartwarming.
For higher end items - especially shoes and handbags (of which I acquired entirely too many over the past three decades) - I have had nothing but good experiences with
The Real Real.
Over the past year I've received several hundred dollars in commissions, and because the point was never to buy more stuff, I made the decision to donate the proceeds each month. So far I've donated to the
Lilith Fund,
Planned Parenthood,
Lamba Legal and the
ACLU while simultaneously making room in my closet.
Then, there's the service I pay for...
Ridwell.
We were out with friends early in the year talking about our adventures in downsizing, one of them mentioned they had started using Ridwell, and offered us a free one month trial.
It is, without question, worth the $12 per month to have them come to your door and pick up things that you really can't take anywhere else. Old electronics, empty inkjet cartridges, clothes that are too worn to be donated - they take all of it - and work with organizations to ensure none of it ends up in the buried in a landfill or floating in the ocean.
And last, at least for this post, sometimes you find a bonus as you are letting go of things...in handbags that went to consignment resellers, I found some cash and a full punch card from
Jo's coffee, which I used for a free Iced Turbo to keep me going and I drove to the post office and UPS to send those bags on to their next life.
